This year marks the Rio Grande Chapter’s first time participating in the Society of Professional Journalists high school essay contest. Students from across the state–from Hobbs to Tome, Gallup to Santa Fe–addressed the question: “Why is it important that we have a news media that is independent of the government?”
In March, the chapter’s board of directors chose an essay from Manzano High School student Sean Cairns, who will now compete with regional winners from across the nation.
Cairns is a senior at Manzano High School in Albuquerque, and he has written for the school newspaper, The Manzano Paw Print, for three years. During the last two years, Cairns has been a member of the editing staff, co-financial manager, and head writer of the paper.
Cairns specializes in hard news stories about happenings in and around the school and has a close working relationship with the staff and the student body. In addition to his work for the paper, he has served as class president for all four years of high school–a position which he says has helped his ability to report stories.
Cairns thanks the Society of Professional Journalists for considering his work, and would also like to thank his newspaper sponsor and journalism teacher, Matt Kraus, for teaching him the fundamentals of news writing and for encouraging him to write.